To culminate on an already tumultuous pre-season tour, Chelsea lost to European Champions Real Madrid 2-1 with yet another underwhelming performance. Chelsea finish their trip to the USA with a disappointing 1-1-3 (W-D-L) record, and their final defeat highlighted three key weaknesses that they must improve on before the start of the Premier League season.
Three Major Weaknesses Chelsea Must Improve On
1. Vulnerable Backline and Lazy Defending
Undoubtedly Chelsea’s most glaring weakness is how vulnerable their defence has been. Throughout pre-season, Chelsea conceded 12 goals in five games which translates to an alarming 2.4 goals against per match. Maintaining this rate would even surpass the historically horrible defensive record that Chelsea set last season of 1.65 goals conceded per match (63 total).
What’s even more concerning is that Chelsea’s defensive struggles can be blamed on two separate facets. Firstly, Chelsea’s backline has simply displayed lazy defending. Their loss to Real Madrid fully accentuated this issue as multiple defenders got caught out of position and looked reluctant to make amends.
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In particular, Levi Colwill can be seen slowly jogging back in the build-up to Madrid’s first goal rather than sprinting back into position. Furthermore, Benoit Badiashile did the same for Madrid’s second goal; he could have easily cleared the ball before it crossed the line if he had made a more proactive effort.
Secondly, Enzo Maresca‘s tactical setup currently creates a poor defensive structure. The Chelsea team seems to be caught in two minds of when to press and when to drop off, preventing their shape from maintaining cohesion and compact solidity. Therefore, Maresca’s men are often far too easy to play through during transition. As shown in the Madrid match, they conceded numerous chances on the counter and were never reassuring when defending. Maresca has plenty of work to do before the season starts to improve Chelsea’s defensive structure and dependability.
2. Poor Man-Marking Pressing
Instilling a new, physically demanding philosophy like man-to-man pressing is a difficult task, so there’s little to no surprise that Maresca’s men are experiencing a lot of growing pains. Chelsea’s pressing game leaves a lot to be desired, as they hardly win the ball back high up the pitch despite how aggressively they push up to do so.
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Besides Marc Guiu, none of the Chelsea players have shown the effort and ability to pressure the opposition into making costly mistakes. The team’s overall pressing shape is easily exploited too. For example, Madrid constantly dragged out one of the centre-halves into midfield and proceeded to run in behind the space which they vacated. This led to numerous chances in behind the Chelsea defence, similar to the defeat against Celtic.
Perfecting the man-to-man pressing style can be very rewarding, but any mistakes in such a risky system can easily lead to calamity. As the start of the Premier League season looms, Maresca must fix the flaws in his pressing setup to prevent further off the ball concerns.
3. Underwhelming Wing Play
It’s no secret that Chelsea have been in the market for a new winger, and their loss to Madrid continued to show why. The right-wing position seems locked down by Cole Palmer, while Noni Madueke has impressed throughout pre-season with four goal contributions. However, the left-wing leaves much more to be desired.
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A combination of Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk blends experience with exciting talent but results in no real end product. Their performances against Madrid summed up their Chelsea careers in a nutshell, too. Sterling constantly dribbled right into a defender, while Mudryk skipped past a few players before skying a shot into row Z.
The wingers in Maresca’s system are crucial for generating a significant portion of the team’s attacking output. Whether it’s in the transfer market or not, Chelsea must find improvements down the left wing before the new season kicks off.
